Your Guide to the Blink EV Charging Network

Blink is a company that contributes to the EV infrastructure from the ground up. Charging stations in the Blink network are designed, manufactured, owned and operated by the company. Blink also develops chargers for home use, available through Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers. Most Blink chargers, including its public charging stations and the Blink HQ 200 designed for at-home charging are Level Two chargers, though there are some DC Fast Charging stations available on the Blink network.

The company has been around since 2009, and over that time has built and installed more than 51,000 chargers around the world. The company’s public charging network across the U.S. numbers about 5,000 public chargers, with more across a total of 25 countries. The company boasts more than 423,000 members who have signed up to use the Blink network.

The company is based in Amsterdam, with U.S. operations in Miami Beach, FL. Global manufacturing of Blink hardware takes place in the United States, India and Taiwan. Blink is a publicly-traded company.

As of September 2022, there were 1,606 Blink EV stations across the United States representing 49 states and territories and 676 cities. Note that this represents individual locations, not individual chargers. While most Blink stations have fewer than five chargers, some have more than five, most commonly in major coastal cities. California, unsurprisingly, has the most Blink stations of any state in the country, at 234, or about 15% of the total of Blink’s U.S. network. Texas and Florida have the second and third most Blink chargers. Seven states and U.S. territories do not have any Blink stations: Alaska, Maine, Montana, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands.

Blink charging stations are visible on Blink’s online map and on the Blink smartphone app. The app lets you save favorite charging stations for quick access, recommends nearby amenities, lets drivers search for a station and filter the list of stations based on several criteria and can see the estimated time and cost of a charging session. Blink stations are also searchable and visible on Google Maps and Apple Maps.

You do not need to be a Blink member to use a Blink charging station, though members do get discounted charging and conveniences such as paying by the Blink mobile app. And, unless you’re a Blink member and you’re already on the Blink mobile app, charging at a Blink station can be a little cumbersome.

If you’re already on the app and logged in, find the station, then click “Charge” and then “Start Charge.” Through the app, you can view the charge status, can pause the charging session and can pay, too.

Otherwise, you can use a Blink membership card to initiate a charging session, by holding it to the charger’s RFID reader and following the instructions on the screen. If you don’t have the app or a membership card, you’ll need to call Blink’s customer service to get a guest code to initiate a charging session. Then, you’ll select “Charge as Guest” on the screen, enter your payment information, and continue to begin your charging session.

Blink’s network offers both Level Two and DC Fast Charging options, which makes it competitive, on a general level, with all EV charging networks. Level Two stations provide 240 volts with 80 amps of power, and DC Fast chargers are generally deployed on 480 amp circuits and range from 30 kW to 350 kW. The charging type is visible on the Blink map or app.

Though you can see Blink’s rates for charging when you’re using the map or the app to find a station, other than that, there’s little information about how much you should expect to pay. As Blink says on its website, “Charging rates for our stations are indicated on the chargers. Charging rates are also displayed on the Blink Charging mobile app when you select a charging station. Charging rates vary from location to location and depend on the type of equipment. The actual cost to fully charge a vehicle depends on the car.”

It’s pretty clear that Blink does not want to disclose rate information that could be compared against rivals, but if you need to know while you’re deciding which charging station to use near you, that information should be available at the time.

The easiest way to pay at a Blink charging station is through the app. The app stores payment information and shows all session information. If you don’t have the app, you can use a Blink membership card to initiate the session and payment, or you can call Blink’s customer service to get a code that will let you initiate a charging session, and then you can set up payment on the charger’s screen.

In early 2022, Blink showed new plug and charge compatible chargers at the Consumer Electronics Show. Until these are installed, Blink is not capable of plug and charge convenience. Plug and charge means you can simply plug in your car and walk away; everything else, including payment, is taken care of thanks to communication between the charger and the car. Currently, Blink’s easiest use case is for a Blink member who already has the mobile app installed with stored payment information.

If you can’t charge at home or work, and you need to use a public charging station, and a Blink charging station happens to be the most convenient for you based on however you define convenience, then go ahead and Blink away.

Charging at home is the best and most efficient way to own an EV, and Blink offers a number of at-home charging station solutions, though they’re still not one-size-fits all and will simply never work for some EV owners who rent or whose property cannot accommodate home charging. Blink’s public charging network doesn’t have any notable advantages against rivals, but it doesn’t have any disadvantages, either, aside from location, so if Blink is best for you while on the road, that is when you should use it.

The Blink network is not notably better than rival EV charging networks. Blink’s chargers are on par with other companies’ chargers in terms of speed, so if you need to charge while on the road and Blink’s charger is the closest or the most convenient, there’s no reason not to charge there. And, with no insight into pricing, it’s hard to reliably compare Blink’s pricing to others. Some rival networks are bigger and more widespread than Blink, so it’s unlikely most EV drivers can or should charge exclusively or mostly with Blink unless it happens to be extremely convenient.